December 2, 2025 • 21 mins
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle joins us and discusses the loss to the Cavaliers last night and where it went wrong, Jay Huff stepping up, Pascal Siakam’s game-winner against Chicago, his childhood fandom & more!
Support the show: https://1075thefan.com/the-wake-up-call-1075-the-fan/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, nine o'clock on a Tuesday on some people
might be uh, just getting out of the house right now.
Commute in wasn't too too bad. Granted that was whatever
three hours ago, but certainly safe travels, it thought. Side
streets little meh, but main streets weren't too bad on
the morning commute. Unfortunately, I think the weather probably impacted
a little bit of the atmosphere last night inside of
(00:21):
Gamebridge Field House to talk more about the Pacers and
the Cavs last night. He is the head coach of
the Indiana Pacers and he's with us right now. Rick Carlisle, coach,
Good morning to you. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Good? Sounded like you guys were slow jamming the news
there for.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
That music, little slow jam action?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Can you get behind that?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Sure? Why not look at that?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
That's all right? Mark Dyke didn't jot that down.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
We might need that for a Rick Carlisle reentry here
coming up later in the season.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Defensively, you guys have been very good over the last
week and a half two weeks or so, but last
night a lot of second chance points early in the game.
Did you see that as the biggest difference for Cleveland?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah. Yeah, we didn't do a good enough job hitting
first on blockouts, and I think they hit us for
nine or eleven second chance points in the first quarter,
and that was that was a bad start.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Rick.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
When you look at these games and you're able to
kind of climb back into it, I guess what's the
message when you see the version of yourselves that obviously
can't play the brand of basketball you want to, like,
is that something that you revisit after the game, like, hey,
this is that we have to play the entire four quarters?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Or you know, how in your face with it?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Are you? Well? Are you you're talking about how we're
presently constructed?
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Yeah, because it is, you know, I don't want to
say it's an excuse, but at the same time, there's
some legitimate reasons maybe why you aren't playing your your
typical brand of basketball.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, we had to adjust a lot, and I think
that's obvious. And so look, we progress in the last
seven games. So before last night, in the previous six games,
were number one in the league in defense. So that's
that's progress and that's something to be proud of. But
(02:16):
as we know, it's you know, it's it's not a
destination I mean, this all requires continued work, continued focus,
and so, yeah, we had slippage last night. Pretty obviously.
Cleveland came in here on a three game losing streak.
Give them credit. They were very determined and you know,
(02:38):
Mitchell got going and we didn't have very many answers.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
I know you mentioned your defense really planned at a
high level. Of course, some slippage last night, as you mentioned,
But on top of that, looking at Jay Huff and
what he's really done for your team over the last
week or so, how have you seen him find a
groove offensively and defensively? Last time I checked, I believe
he was leading the league in blocks per game.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, he's uh, he's made great progress, and he's a
he's a terrific kid. You know, he came into a
situation that was quite different than Memphis. There's been certainly
an adjustment period for him. You know, a lot of
things with our team has changed this year. But as
we've gone along and had you know, some moderate success
(03:26):
over the last seven games, he's been He's certainly been
a big part of it with his ability to stretch
the floor. He's rebounded well, and you mentioned the block shots.
I mean he's pretty elite in that area.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Pacers Nuggets coming up tomorrow night inside a Gamebridge Field House.
Rick Carlile with us here on the Payless Slickers Hotline.
You mentioned that number one defense, you know there for
about a two week stretch. You know, what have you
liked from a change standpoint on that end of the floor. Again,
we've seen some lineup tweaks, but what hasn't been on
the defensive end that's given you certainly much more optimism
(04:04):
about where you guys are playing.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Probably just simply the fact that we've been physical. We've
done a reasonably good job of keeping people off the
free throw line when we've had success. Our rebounding has
been better, you know, certainly with the exception of last
night and so and you know, it's nbas is a
(04:35):
difficult league. You know, it's it's a difficult league. It's
become more physical. You know, we were certainly a part
of that with how it played the last couple of years,
and so you always have to keep adjusting, and then
you have to adjust your adjustments.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I need to go back to over the weekend, Codach. Obviously,
you guys win the back to back against Washington and
Chicago and you see Pascal Siakam hit that game winner.
He guys been on the wrong side of several of
those shots here throughout the early part of the season.
If you could from your perspective, like, what did you
see from Siakam on that play? I was particularly struck
(05:16):
by just his entire demeanor, cool, calm, collected, seemingly knowing
where the clock is, you know, the pump, fake, all
of it. Could you kind of walk us through what
you saw from Pascal in that moment to win the game?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, he he you know all the things you just mentioned.
Certainly he had a good feel for the clocks. We
tried to space the floor to give him an angle
in an area to go to to get to a spot.
It was not an easy shot, and I was right
(05:52):
behind him in line with the basket, and in real time,
just standing there, it looked like he just he went
to his spot and rose up, but there was actually
a hesitation and it reminded me a little bit of
Dirk dewhiskey. You know, I saw many game winners during
(06:14):
my thirteen years with him. I think eleven out of
thirteen were with him. And Pascal has the ability to
at the last second, you know, very calmly and very
coolly change the angle of the shot to back up
a little bit and ball goes a little bit higher.
(06:35):
You can, you can go up to try to block
it all you want, but when he when he makes
that geometrical change and gets it of it, there's just
no way to get to it. And it was perfection
as difficult as it was. I mean, the only thing,
the only thing better would have been if you know,
the red light had gone on while the ball was
(06:55):
in the air. But you know, point one on the
clock is it's pretty damn good and it was an
amazing shot and certainly much needed.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Yeah, I was saying watching that game, we got to
get the home clock operator and give him the walk
off win there with the point once he left on
the clock.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
But Rick, you touched on a little bit there.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
But how much value do you think it is, especially
in a league like this where there's so many guys
that can, you know, do multiple things now as far
as you know, shoot, drive past whatever, But you still
have that one guy at least on your roster. And
I think Benedg has some of this as well, that
when you're kind of in a bind he can still
get a pretty good look.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
You've been around the game for a long time. How
rare a talent is that?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well, this is you know, this is the definition of
a max player. You know, a guy that can that
can create consistently create an advantage for his team. So yeah,
I mean, really the technical definition is probably can consistently
create an advantage for himself. But in Pascal's mind, it's
(08:04):
it's all about the team and what he can do
for the team. And so yeah, it's it's made him,
you know, a very special player for us. He's a
very special person. And you know how he's led through
this difficult stretch has been uh has been quite Uh
has been quite exceptional because he's he's remained very upbeat.
(08:29):
He's had great wisdom. He he you know, he picks
the exact right spots to to interject on what's going
on and to help and uh, you know, his consistency
has been impeccable.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Then Rick Carlisle with here on the Payless Slickers Hotline
as the Pacers will get back to work coming up
tomorrow night. It will be Patris and Nuggets inside of
gamebridge Field House. Coach, You've talked a little bit these
last two days on the show about how this weekend
Saturday specifically is kind of a dream scenario for IU fans.
Their basketball team will play inside of your building coming
up Saturday afternoon against Louisville, and they'll play in the
(09:07):
Big Ten title one versus two Saturday night. It kind
of got me thinking, I don't know if you've ever
asked you this, did you have a do you have
a favorite team, you know, any sport when you were
growing up, or a favorite player. I get you weren't
dialing up League Pass necessarily, but did you have a
favorite team a favorite player growing up?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Uh, you're talking about football or basketball either.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I guess any just like childhood, Rick Carlile, did he
have a favorite sport or favorite team?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I followed the NBA, you know,
largely through magazines growing up because you know, we didn't
have cable TV. I think I probably told you this story,
but you know, early on, you know, when I was
ten or eleven years old, you know, that was when
(09:56):
Louel Sander was drafted by the Bucks and he and
Oscar were playing together there and I became a big
fan of of of al Sander who became Kareem and
then and then I kind of hooked on with the
Lakers in seventy two when they had their run and
at one point won thirty three games in a row.
(10:17):
And I remember listening to games on AM radio, you know,
during the playoffs that year. You know, back in those
days where we lived up near Canada, you could pick
up AM radio signals, you know, late at night, and uh,
it was it was pretty amazing, it was. It would
come through very clear, you know. And that was that
(10:38):
was the year they had you know, west Goodrich, McMillan, Happy, Hairston,
and Chamberlain as their starters, and you know, they were
they were great, and uh, you know, and then after that,
I'm just trying to think, you know, I was somewhat
of a Nick fan, you know, in the in the
early seventies as well. You know, my dad grew up
(11:01):
in Elmsford, New York, which is in Westchester County. We
went to a couple of Knicks games early on at
the garden. Those were very very memorable. You know, I
was in my you know, eleven, twelve, thirteen year old
you know range of age, and then you know, I mean,
all that kind of came full circle when I got
(11:22):
signed by the Knicks and on December first of eighty seven,
and that night had my best game as a pro,
you know, in Massive Square Garden, and I just so
much of that stuff was was so cool. And then
you know, when the when the ABA NBA merger happened,
you know, Doctor J was was the guy that was
(11:42):
you know, I was completely enamored with, you know, the
style of play, the grace, the dunks, you know, all
that stuff, and uh, you know, of course emulating a
guy who you could you could never in a zillion
years hope to play like was kind of idiotic in
a lot of ways, but it was, uh, you know
(12:06):
it was it was inspirational, you know, watching him and
so uh and then you know, the irony of ironies
was you know, I was pretty much a Celtic hater
in those days, you know, because of my love of
Doctor J and the Sixers. And then I get drafted
by Boston, you know, and then uh, you know, once
(12:27):
I got there and made the team, of course all
that changed, and you know, very interestingly, uh, the opportunity
to play with Larry for three years in Boston Larry
Bird that is, and you know, became became friends with him,
and it it was one of the reasons that you know,
we ended up coaching together and then working together, you know,
(12:50):
a little further on down the line, but you know,
that's kind of the history of my of my favorite teams,
et cetera. You know, as far as far as football goes.
Right now, it's the Colts, baby, you know, I'm just
I'm dialed in and you know it's damn officials the
other day. Wait, you know what, what a what a
(13:10):
screwing that was.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I don't think they can find you across.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
I love to follow up, but I'm worried about your pocket.
I don't know if they can. Roger Goodell can step
in there, coach.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
He ain't gonna get me.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
I love that Adam.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Adam could get me by that, but Goodell can't. He can't.
He can't get he can't touch me.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
So last one I have for you, Rick, And actually
this sparked from a debate I have my family during Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
We always do like, Okay, whose era is better?
Speaker 4 (13:42):
You know, you're Eraro with Lebron and you know s
g a now and Yoki versus my dad's from He
loves the Michael Jordan and Larry Bird and all those
guys and Doctor j Like you said, so looking at
we were looking at the Michael Jordan gang. We're SCPOED
sixty three. I believe you're on Boston when this happened.
And looking at the spacing from that game, Rick is
(14:03):
jarring to me because it's so different. I'm not taking
anything away from the skill level that you know each
era has, but as a coach and as a player
throughout the years, what has it been like to evolve
with the spacing of the game. And you talked about
physicality a little bit earlier in this interview, but the
spacing so different, and how has that maybe affected how
you coach and the rotations you have and things of
(14:23):
that nature.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, I mean the other it was maybe a week
and a half ago. I was I was going through
the channels. An NBA TV was on and they had
game five of the playoff series between Philadelphia and New
Jersey and it was it was It was a series
(14:46):
that went to a deciding fifth game in the first round.
Every game in the first four games was won by
the road team. So you know, uh, Jersey won the
first two games in Philly. Philly won the next two
games in New Jersey. And this is New Jersey with
you know, Michael Ray, Richardson, Buck Williams, Albert King, Otis
(15:11):
bird Song, Darwin Cook, you know, a lot of a
lot of good players. And Philly was you know, it
was it was Doctor Jay and it really it was
there pretty much championship team intact, you know, a couple
I think a year or two after the championship and
so watching that game, I had the same I had,
(15:33):
I had the exact same thought. I mean, everything was
so bunched in I don't think I saw one three
point shot taken. In fact, Philadelphia was down, was down late,
and they had a couple of possessions left. They didn't
even think about shooter three, you know. So it was
(15:53):
so so much has changed. And look, there was a
there was a scoring crisis in the nineties and headed
into the early two thousands, and then uh, Jerry Colangelo
had a group that was put together by David Stern.
David gave them autonomy to make some rule changes to
(16:14):
make the game better, you know, to to help evolve
the game forward. So the big change was you could
play any defense as long as you did not get
a defense a three second violation. And so all of
a sudden, instead of grid lines that determined whether or not,
(16:35):
you know, you were legal or not, you could now guard.
You can now double team a guy that didn't have
the ball, and that that didn't used to be the case.
So the ball had to had to move, and as
the ball had to move more with you know, the
legality of zone defense, et cetera, players had to develop
(16:58):
a different skill set. The game started to breathe more.
The three point shots started to be realized as as
the potent weapon that it that it's viewed as today,
and that was kind of the beginning of the change
of the game. And then you know, nowadays you have analytics,
you've got a three point line, but a lot of
(17:20):
these guys are shooting from what would be a four
point line. And you know, it's I I love the
way the game has changed. It's it's it's really the
ultimate challenge to play, it's the ultimate challenge to defend
in it. And you know, it's just, uh, it's just
(17:42):
super compelling because as we've seen over the last two years, especially,
you know, no, no lead is too large and no
deficit is too big, you know, and the three point
shot and the speed of the game is has has
put a great deal of excitement into it. So yeah,
I'm with you on that. And watch that game. Five man,
(18:03):
I've never seen so many people bunched up together in
the lane. It was the only the only game that
that that I would compare it to that I've seen
that I went back years later and happened to see
on TV when we were playing Washington back in the
it was around two thousand and eight or something. When
I first got to Dallas, they had our Virginia Georgetown games,
(18:27):
so that was Ewing versus Samson, and that game had
no three point line, no shot clock, and and we
were sitting in a zone and it was it was
packed in and possessions were super long, and you know,
it was it was like it was like watching paint dry.
(18:48):
I mean, it was really it was really it was
really arduous. And so I just I'm thrilled with the
way the games involved over the years. It had to
you know, in some way shape or there was there
was always talk about, hey, the floor needs to be bigger,
you know, maybe the rim needs to get higher, all
that kind of stuff. You know, none of that stuff
was going to happen because NBA arenas are configured to
(19:14):
be a certain size. There are certain you know, the
high revenue seats were not going to go away, and
so the game had to adjust and it has and
and as we move forward, you know you're going to
see more five men that can stretch the floor, put
the ball on the floor, and do all the skilled
things as well, and it'll get harder and harder to guard.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Now I think of scoring. You guys put up what
eighty something on Cleveland in the first half of a
playoff game last year, and you know, twenty years ago
Pacers Pistons, it was the first one to like seventy
five would win that series in the East.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, but I'll tell you one, like my first year
in Detroit, you know, we we developed a team that
was a tough minded, defensive team. That was our identity.
We gave up eighty six points a game the season,
and you know that was that was kind of the
beginning of this era that my first year of coaching
(20:09):
was that year. And it was also the first year
of the Colangelo rule changes, and so you know, we
we were all adjusting, but you know, we we had
we had defenders. I mean we had Ben Wallace, who
really nobody really knew who Ben Wallace was at that
point in time, but he became Defensive Player of the
Year his second year with us and went on to
win it like three additional times. And you know under
(20:34):
these under these new rules, you could still have a
great defensive team. And so everyone wants to have an identity,
and so right now, you know, with us, our identity
is we we we have we have found a formula
to defend well. But it is it's great dependent on
(20:57):
the right kind of offense and in the right kind
of execution at both ends.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Basers have one, two of three.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Again, they got Denver coming up tomorrow night reminder, and
I think it's a good reminder on a day like today.
You got the Lloyd Pier Samuel Coatee Drive coming up,
uh three thirty five thirty today over at the Goodwill
Horizon House right off of Washington Streets. If you can
make it out to that, certainly do coach. As always,
thank you, Sarah, Well chat next week.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Cheers, take care of
All right, nine o'clock on a Tuesday on some people
might be uh, just getting out of the house right now.
Commute in wasn't too too bad. Granted that was whatever
three hours ago, but certainly safe travels, it thought. Side
streets little meh, but main streets weren't too bad on
the morning commute. Unfortunately, I think the weather probably impacted
a little bit of the atmosphere last night inside of
(00:21):
Gamebridge Field House to talk more about the Pacers and
the Cavs last night. He is the head coach of
the Indiana Pacers and he's with us right now. Rick Carlisle, coach,
Good morning to you. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Good? Sounded like you guys were slow jamming the news
there for.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
That music, little slow jam action?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Can you get behind that?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Sure? Why not look at that?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
That's all right? Mark Dyke didn't jot that down.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
We might need that for a Rick Carlisle reentry here
coming up later in the season.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Defensively, you guys have been very good over the last
week and a half two weeks or so, but last
night a lot of second chance points early in the game.
Did you see that as the biggest difference for Cleveland?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah. Yeah, we didn't do a good enough job hitting
first on blockouts, and I think they hit us for
nine or eleven second chance points in the first quarter,
and that was that was a bad start.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Rick.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
When you look at these games and you're able to
kind of climb back into it, I guess what's the
message when you see the version of yourselves that obviously
can't play the brand of basketball you want to, like,
is that something that you revisit after the game, like, hey,
this is that we have to play the entire four quarters?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Or you know, how in your face with it?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Are you? Well? Are you you're talking about how we're
presently constructed?
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Yeah, because it is, you know, I don't want to
say it's an excuse, but at the same time, there's
some legitimate reasons maybe why you aren't playing your your
typical brand of basketball.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, we had to adjust a lot, and I think
that's obvious. And so look, we progress in the last
seven games. So before last night, in the previous six games,
were number one in the league in defense. So that's
that's progress and that's something to be proud of. But
(02:16):
as we know, it's you know, it's it's not a
destination I mean, this all requires continued work, continued focus,
and so, yeah, we had slippage last night. Pretty obviously.
Cleveland came in here on a three game losing streak.
Give them credit. They were very determined and you know,
(02:38):
Mitchell got going and we didn't have very many answers.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
I know you mentioned your defense really planned at a
high level. Of course, some slippage last night, as you mentioned,
But on top of that, looking at Jay Huff and
what he's really done for your team over the last
week or so, how have you seen him find a
groove offensively and defensively? Last time I checked, I believe
he was leading the league in blocks per game.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, he's uh, he's made great progress, and he's a
he's a terrific kid. You know, he came into a
situation that was quite different than Memphis. There's been certainly
an adjustment period for him. You know, a lot of
things with our team has changed this year. But as
we've gone along and had you know, some moderate success
(03:26):
over the last seven games, he's been He's certainly been
a big part of it with his ability to stretch
the floor. He's rebounded well, and you mentioned the block shots.
I mean he's pretty elite in that area.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Pacers Nuggets coming up tomorrow night inside a Gamebridge Field House.
Rick Carlile with us here on the Payless Slickers Hotline.
You mentioned that number one defense, you know there for
about a two week stretch. You know, what have you
liked from a change standpoint on that end of the floor. Again,
we've seen some lineup tweaks, but what hasn't been on
the defensive end that's given you certainly much more optimism
(04:04):
about where you guys are playing.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Probably just simply the fact that we've been physical. We've
done a reasonably good job of keeping people off the
free throw line when we've had success. Our rebounding has
been better, you know, certainly with the exception of last
night and so and you know, it's nbas is a
(04:35):
difficult league. You know, it's it's a difficult league. It's
become more physical. You know, we were certainly a part
of that with how it played the last couple of years,
and so you always have to keep adjusting, and then
you have to adjust your adjustments.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I need to go back to over the weekend, Codach. Obviously,
you guys win the back to back against Washington and
Chicago and you see Pascal Siakam hit that game winner.
He guys been on the wrong side of several of
those shots here throughout the early part of the season.
If you could from your perspective, like, what did you
see from Siakam on that play? I was particularly struck
(05:16):
by just his entire demeanor, cool, calm, collected, seemingly knowing
where the clock is, you know, the pump, fake, all
of it. Could you kind of walk us through what
you saw from Pascal in that moment to win the game?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, he he you know all the things you just mentioned.
Certainly he had a good feel for the clocks. We
tried to space the floor to give him an angle
in an area to go to to get to a spot.
It was not an easy shot, and I was right
(05:52):
behind him in line with the basket, and in real time,
just standing there, it looked like he just he went
to his spot and rose up, but there was actually
a hesitation and it reminded me a little bit of
Dirk dewhiskey. You know, I saw many game winners during
(06:14):
my thirteen years with him. I think eleven out of
thirteen were with him. And Pascal has the ability to
at the last second, you know, very calmly and very
coolly change the angle of the shot to back up
a little bit and ball goes a little bit higher.
(06:35):
You can, you can go up to try to block
it all you want, but when he when he makes
that geometrical change and gets it of it, there's just
no way to get to it. And it was perfection
as difficult as it was. I mean, the only thing,
the only thing better would have been if you know,
the red light had gone on while the ball was
(06:55):
in the air. But you know, point one on the
clock is it's pretty damn good and it was an
amazing shot and certainly much needed.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Yeah, I was saying watching that game, we got to
get the home clock operator and give him the walk
off win there with the point once he left on
the clock.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
But Rick, you touched on a little bit there.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
But how much value do you think it is, especially
in a league like this where there's so many guys
that can, you know, do multiple things now as far
as you know, shoot, drive past whatever, But you still
have that one guy at least on your roster. And
I think Benedg has some of this as well, that
when you're kind of in a bind he can still
get a pretty good look.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
You've been around the game for a long time. How
rare a talent is that?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well, this is you know, this is the definition of
a max player. You know, a guy that can that
can create consistently create an advantage for his team. So yeah,
I mean, really the technical definition is probably can consistently
create an advantage for himself. But in Pascal's mind, it's
(08:04):
it's all about the team and what he can do
for the team. And so yeah, it's it's made him,
you know, a very special player for us. He's a
very special person. And you know how he's led through
this difficult stretch has been uh has been quite Uh
has been quite exceptional because he's he's remained very upbeat.
(08:29):
He's had great wisdom. He he you know, he picks
the exact right spots to to interject on what's going
on and to help and uh, you know, his consistency
has been impeccable.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Then Rick Carlisle with here on the Payless Slickers Hotline
as the Pacers will get back to work coming up
tomorrow night. It will be Patris and Nuggets inside of
gamebridge Field House. Coach, You've talked a little bit these
last two days on the show about how this weekend
Saturday specifically is kind of a dream scenario for IU fans.
Their basketball team will play inside of your building coming
up Saturday afternoon against Louisville, and they'll play in the
(09:07):
Big Ten title one versus two Saturday night. It kind
of got me thinking, I don't know if you've ever
asked you this, did you have a do you have
a favorite team, you know, any sport when you were
growing up, or a favorite player. I get you weren't
dialing up League Pass necessarily, but did you have a
favorite team a favorite player growing up?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Uh, you're talking about football or basketball either.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I guess any just like childhood, Rick Carlile, did he
have a favorite sport or favorite team?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I followed the NBA, you know,
largely through magazines growing up because you know, we didn't
have cable TV. I think I probably told you this story,
but you know, early on, you know, when I was
ten or eleven years old, you know, that was when
(09:56):
Louel Sander was drafted by the Bucks and he and
Oscar were playing together there and I became a big
fan of of of al Sander who became Kareem and
then and then I kind of hooked on with the
Lakers in seventy two when they had their run and
at one point won thirty three games in a row.
(10:17):
And I remember listening to games on AM radio, you know,
during the playoffs that year. You know, back in those
days where we lived up near Canada, you could pick
up AM radio signals, you know, late at night, and uh,
it was it was pretty amazing, it was. It would
come through very clear, you know. And that was that
(10:38):
was the year they had you know, west Goodrich, McMillan, Happy, Hairston,
and Chamberlain as their starters, and you know, they were
they were great, and uh, you know, and then after that,
I'm just trying to think, you know, I was somewhat
of a Nick fan, you know, in the in the
early seventies as well. You know, my dad grew up
(11:01):
in Elmsford, New York, which is in Westchester County. We
went to a couple of Knicks games early on at
the garden. Those were very very memorable. You know, I
was in my you know, eleven, twelve, thirteen year old
you know range of age, and then you know, I mean,
all that kind of came full circle when I got
(11:22):
signed by the Knicks and on December first of eighty seven,
and that night had my best game as a pro,
you know, in Massive Square Garden, and I just so
much of that stuff was was so cool. And then
you know, when the when the ABA NBA merger happened,
you know, Doctor J was was the guy that was
(11:42):
you know, I was completely enamored with, you know, the
style of play, the grace, the dunks, you know, all
that stuff, and uh, you know, of course emulating a
guy who you could you could never in a zillion
years hope to play like was kind of idiotic in
a lot of ways, but it was, uh, you know
(12:06):
it was it was inspirational, you know, watching him and
so uh and then you know, the irony of ironies
was you know, I was pretty much a Celtic hater
in those days, you know, because of my love of
Doctor J and the Sixers. And then I get drafted
by Boston, you know, and then uh, you know, once
(12:27):
I got there and made the team, of course all
that changed, and you know, very interestingly, uh, the opportunity
to play with Larry for three years in Boston Larry
Bird that is, and you know, became became friends with him,
and it it was one of the reasons that you know,
we ended up coaching together and then working together, you know,
(12:50):
a little further on down the line, but you know,
that's kind of the history of my of my favorite teams,
et cetera. You know, as far as far as football goes.
Right now, it's the Colts, baby, you know, I'm just
I'm dialed in and you know it's damn officials the
other day. Wait, you know what, what a what a
(13:10):
screwing that was.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I don't think they can find you across.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
I love to follow up, but I'm worried about your pocket.
I don't know if they can. Roger Goodell can step
in there, coach.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
He ain't gonna get me.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
I love that Adam.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Adam could get me by that, but Goodell can't. He can't.
He can't get he can't touch me.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
So last one I have for you, Rick, And actually
this sparked from a debate I have my family during Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
We always do like, Okay, whose era is better?
Speaker 4 (13:42):
You know, you're Eraro with Lebron and you know s
g a now and Yoki versus my dad's from He
loves the Michael Jordan and Larry Bird and all those
guys and Doctor j Like you said, so looking at
we were looking at the Michael Jordan gang. We're SCPOED
sixty three. I believe you're on Boston when this happened.
And looking at the spacing from that game, Rick is
(14:03):
jarring to me because it's so different. I'm not taking
anything away from the skill level that you know each
era has, but as a coach and as a player
throughout the years, what has it been like to evolve
with the spacing of the game. And you talked about
physicality a little bit earlier in this interview, but the
spacing so different, and how has that maybe affected how
you coach and the rotations you have and things of
(14:23):
that nature.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, I mean the other it was maybe a week
and a half ago. I was I was going through
the channels. An NBA TV was on and they had
game five of the playoff series between Philadelphia and New
Jersey and it was it was It was a series
(14:46):
that went to a deciding fifth game in the first round.
Every game in the first four games was won by
the road team. So you know, uh, Jersey won the
first two games in Philly. Philly won the next two
games in New Jersey. And this is New Jersey with
you know, Michael Ray, Richardson, Buck Williams, Albert King, Otis
(15:11):
bird Song, Darwin Cook, you know, a lot of a
lot of good players. And Philly was you know, it
was it was Doctor Jay and it really it was
there pretty much championship team intact, you know, a couple
I think a year or two after the championship and
so watching that game, I had the same I had,
(15:33):
I had the exact same thought. I mean, everything was
so bunched in I don't think I saw one three
point shot taken. In fact, Philadelphia was down, was down late,
and they had a couple of possessions left. They didn't
even think about shooter three, you know. So it was
(15:53):
so so much has changed. And look, there was a
there was a scoring crisis in the nineties and headed
into the early two thousands, and then uh, Jerry Colangelo
had a group that was put together by David Stern.
David gave them autonomy to make some rule changes to
(16:14):
make the game better, you know, to to help evolve
the game forward. So the big change was you could
play any defense as long as you did not get
a defense a three second violation. And so all of
a sudden, instead of grid lines that determined whether or not,
(16:35):
you know, you were legal or not, you could now guard.
You can now double team a guy that didn't have
the ball, and that that didn't used to be the case.
So the ball had to had to move, and as
the ball had to move more with you know, the
legality of zone defense, et cetera, players had to develop
(16:58):
a different skill set. The game started to breathe more.
The three point shots started to be realized as as
the potent weapon that it that it's viewed as today,
and that was kind of the beginning of the change
of the game. And then you know, nowadays you have analytics,
you've got a three point line, but a lot of
(17:20):
these guys are shooting from what would be a four
point line. And you know, it's I I love the
way the game has changed. It's it's it's really the
ultimate challenge to play, it's the ultimate challenge to defend
in it. And you know, it's just, uh, it's just
(17:42):
super compelling because as we've seen over the last two years, especially,
you know, no, no lead is too large and no
deficit is too big, you know, and the three point
shot and the speed of the game is has has
put a great deal of excitement into it. So yeah,
I'm with you on that. And watch that game. Five man,
(18:03):
I've never seen so many people bunched up together in
the lane. It was the only the only game that
that that I would compare it to that I've seen
that I went back years later and happened to see
on TV when we were playing Washington back in the
it was around two thousand and eight or something. When
I first got to Dallas, they had our Virginia Georgetown games,
(18:27):
so that was Ewing versus Samson, and that game had
no three point line, no shot clock, and and we
were sitting in a zone and it was it was
packed in and possessions were super long, and you know,
it was it was like it was like watching paint dry.
(18:48):
I mean, it was really it was really it was
really arduous. And so I just I'm thrilled with the
way the games involved over the years. It had to
you know, in some way shape or there was there
was always talk about, hey, the floor needs to be bigger,
you know, maybe the rim needs to get higher, all
that kind of stuff. You know, none of that stuff
was going to happen because NBA arenas are configured to
(19:14):
be a certain size. There are certain you know, the
high revenue seats were not going to go away, and
so the game had to adjust and it has and
and as we move forward, you know you're going to
see more five men that can stretch the floor, put
the ball on the floor, and do all the skilled
things as well, and it'll get harder and harder to guard.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Now I think of scoring. You guys put up what
eighty something on Cleveland in the first half of a
playoff game last year, and you know, twenty years ago
Pacers Pistons, it was the first one to like seventy
five would win that series in the East.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, but I'll tell you one, like my first year
in Detroit, you know, we we developed a team that
was a tough minded, defensive team. That was our identity.
We gave up eighty six points a game the season,
and you know that was that was kind of the
beginning of this era that my first year of coaching
(20:09):
was that year. And it was also the first year
of the Colangelo rule changes, and so you know, we
we were all adjusting, but you know, we we had
we had defenders. I mean we had Ben Wallace, who
really nobody really knew who Ben Wallace was at that
point in time, but he became Defensive Player of the
Year his second year with us and went on to
win it like three additional times. And you know under
(20:34):
these under these new rules, you could still have a
great defensive team. And so everyone wants to have an identity,
and so right now, you know, with us, our identity
is we we we have we have found a formula
to defend well. But it is it's great dependent on
(20:57):
the right kind of offense and in the right kind
of execution at both ends.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Basers have one, two of three.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Again, they got Denver coming up tomorrow night reminder, and
I think it's a good reminder on a day like today.
You got the Lloyd Pier Samuel Coatee Drive coming up,
uh three thirty five thirty today over at the Goodwill
Horizon House right off of Washington Streets. If you can
make it out to that, certainly do coach. As always,
thank you, Sarah, Well chat next week.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Cheers, take care of
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.